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Nursing Home and Hospice Patients as Tissue Donors

Organ and tissue donation saves thousands of lives every year, thanks to the generosity of those families who say “yes” and give new hope to the many people in need of a transplant.

Generally, hospice and nursing home patients do not receive the option to donate because death does not take place in a hospital. However, these patients retain the option if they are referred to Gift of Hope and determined to be medically eligible for tissue donation. Donated corneas, bone, veins, whole heart for valves and other soft tissues benefit trauma patients as well as cancer, dialysis, cardiac, dental, and orthopedic patients. Nearly one million tissue transplants are performed every year, and the need far exceeds the availability.

Upon the death of a nursing home or hospice patient, a facility staff member, a family member or funeral services personnel can refer the patient to Gift of Hope by calling 800/545-GIFT (4438). Gift of Hope’s Donor Resource Center Coordinators will review the patient’s medical condition prior to death and immediately determine medical eligibility for tissue donation.

Following this initial screening, a Gift of Hope Coordinator will contact the patient’s family to discuss donation, answer questions they may have, and request permission for donation if the patient did not register a consent decision in the Illinois organ/tissue donor registry after January 1, 2006. The Gift of Hope Coordinator also will obtain information about the patient’s medical/social history, a process that takes approximately 30 minutes and involves a deeper review of the patient’s past medical and social history. The medical and social history is similar to the one that takes place before donating blood, and helps ensure the safety of the donated tissue.

The tissue recovery process must take place in an operating room or aseptic environment. Because most nursing homes and hospices do not have a facility available for this purpose, Gift of Hope will arrange to transfer the patient to an appropriate facility to complete the tissue donation. Permission to move the patient is requested of the family during the consent conversation, and there are no additional charges to the family for transportation.

Finally, Gift of Hope will notify the funeral home of the details of the donation and provide an approximate time when the patient’s body will be available for funeral preparations. Life-giving donation is possible only through the combined efforts of a generous family, a dedicated healthcare team, and the support of coroners and funeral services personnel—all committed to saving and enhancing lives through organ and tissue donation.

If you have questions about the referral or donation process, please contact:

For Elmhurst —John Krenn, CTBS, FDE, Supervisor of Tissue Recovery Services
630/758-2779 or jkrenn@giftofhope.org